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HORSE SENSE
Periodic updates about issues and actions concerning New York City's Carriage Horses
Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages
www.banhdc.org
Horses Without Carriages International
www.horseswithoutcarriages.org
PLEASE FORWARD TO FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES Buy your Tickles dog tag ** Call Council Members ** Central Park on video ** Is NYC being honest about its carriage accidents ** the Environmental Impact Study ** the real win-win solution **
NOTE: the best way to receive this newsletter is to subscribe directly. Although I post it on other lists, sometimes (for reasons unknown) they do not approve it - so you are subject to their whims. PLEASE CLICK HERE to subscribe directly. If you want to see past newsletters - CLICK HERE for our archive.
UPDATE ON CARRIAGE HORSE BILL - INTRO 573
We must all be patient - but YOU must help
A requirement to shut down the inhumane and unsafe NYC carriage trade has been for the Administration to complete an Environmental Assessment Study. This is currently underway but we do not know when it will be completed. We also are not privy to any other information about what is being studied and assessed. A vote cannot be taken on Intro 573 until this study is completed. This is why we continuously ask you to CALL your Council Member AND members of the Transportation Committee where the bill resides. It will have to be voted out of this committee first before it comes to the full Council for a vote.
CALL THE CITY COUNCIL. THIS WEEK IT IS TWO: COUNCIL MEMBER STEPHEN LEVIN
We are trying to make it easier for you by asking you to call two Council Members this week. Please put this on your calendar. Both Council Members Stephen Levin and Jimmy Van Bramer are on the Transportation Committee where the bill resides.
Please call both Council Members and ask them to
support the bill to ban horse-drawn carriages - Intro 573.
AND COUNCIL MEMBER JIMMY VAN BRAMER
DONATE & GET A TICKLES HORSE TAG
Tickles represents all the beleaguered carriage horses who are treated like commodities and products.
Thanks to everyone who donated to our organization to get a Tickles tag. We have some left just waiting for you. Tickles, a NYC carriage horse, was euthanized in his stall on February 13th. His leg was fractured and he could not stand. We do not believe the Department of Health did an adequate or suitable investigation. Instead they allowed the carriage horse vet to call the shots. Wrong! We have asked for a thorough investigation - but we have not heard back from the DoH. Last week, we followed up and will keep you informed. it is common practice for City Agencies like the DoH to ignore these requests. This was raised in my recent article in TheDodo.
Wearing a Tickles tag will show that you support a ban on horse-drawn carriages and that you understand Tickles represents all the horses who went before him and disappeared into oblivion.
The tag is silver colored and comes with a 25" chain to wear around your neck and a short one for a key chain.
- TICKLES
- 2-13-15 R.I.P
- NEW YORK CITY
- CARRIAGE HORSE
- WWW.BANHDC.ORG
The tag is $15. Please go to this page and either send us a check or use PayPal. We are an all volunteer, grass roots organization that is in it to win it. We do not take salaries. We started this carriage horse ban campaign in 2006 and will not give up. But we need your support. Your donation will allow us to continue getting the truth out. It will help pay for these newsletters, flyers and posters.
IS NYC BEING HONEST ABOUT ITS CARRIAGE HORSE ACCIDENTS?
New theDodo article by Elizabeth Forel
theDodo, 5/16/15 - Is NYC Being Honest About Its Carriage Horse Accidents? From the article: The spin machine is in overdrive in New York City.
People should know how dangerous a carriage ride really is - and generally they do, don't they? It depends on where you live. If it's New York City, you're not getting the real story.
The NYC media protects the carriage trade by manipulating facts, withholding information and simply not telling the truth. Read how NYC compares with St. Louis, which was the site of a recent spooking accident.
PROBLEMS: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STUDY
Will this affect the ban?
An Environmental Impact Study is required to be completed before the bill to ban horse- drawn carriage can be considered in the City Council. We've never been able to learn exactly what the analysis will cover. However, the financial impact to the City will not be able to be determined with any accuracy because the industry operates on a cash only basis. We believe the drivers pay very little in city income taxes, so the impact will be minimal. These are small private businesses whose tax returns are not public.
The RFP process was not public and went out to a handful of vendors. We learned recently that the contract was awarded to Langan Engineering, headed by CEO David Gockel, who had been listed on NYClass' website as a supporter of the carriage horse ban. The fact that the Daily News broke the story, along with NY1, is troubling since both are biased to the carriage trade and the DN has been known to ignore the truth. But a little research proves this to be true. We do not know how this will play out but we wanted every one who has put years into working on this ban to know what is happening. This is the article, 5/16/15: Consulting firm head hired by de Blasio for Central Park carriage industry review was early supporter of NYCLASS Perception trumps reality every time and we hope this gets worked out.
THE REAL "WIN WIN" SOLUTION WAS IGNORED
Retrofitted carriages
Carriage wants to hit the streets minus the horses - from Tampa Tribune - 5/13/15. This is a true compromise -- the horses would go to sanctuaries and the drivers would keep their jobs -- same business model but with retrofitted motorized carriages - sans horses.
The owner of Andres Carriages has had some success - namely in Detroit. Now he is looking at a city in Florida. The cost of retrofitting the existing horse carriages was a fraction of the cost of electric cars.
A CARRIAGE RIDE IS NO WALK IN THE PARK
This video - DANGEROUS MIX: CARRIAGES AND CROWDS - was taken a few years ago and shows a typical day in Central Park -- complete with bikers, pedicab cabs - even a siren. Central Park is not the idylilic solution that somoe people think it is .
If anyone still harbors the mistaken belief that NYC carriage horses should work only in Central Park as a form of compromise, you do not know the park and probably have never been there. Central Park is extremely C R O W D E D and C O N G E S T E D! It is wall to wall people (New Yorkers and tourists alike,)bikers, skaters, people with baby strollers, kids with scooters, wagons, wheelchairs, pedicabs. On a recent Sunday I saw a driver trying to negotiate a horse into making a turn. Instead of cars to deal with, there was a mass of people. It was crazy and I could see the horse shying away. Nothing happened, fortunately. NYC carriage horses must be retired to sanctuaries. The streets of NYC are no place for the horses and neither is Central Park. (the picture is the end result of a horse who spooked in the park in 2011 and fell. The family in the carriage was frightened and scrambled out only to later see the driver back to working the horse on the hack line.)
HELP OUR ORGANIZATION BY SHOPPING ONLINE - iGIVE
If you buy online, you can help the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages
Through a free registration with iGive, when you buy merchandise on line, your purchase will help us. Many organizations give a percentage of the sale to not for profit organizations at no cost to you. There are more than 1500 stores that include such popular ones as Amazon.com, Staples, Best Buy and Barnes & Noble. Click here to get started.
On iGive - the name of our organization is "The Coalition for NYC Animals, Inc." Click here to begin.
PLEASE JOIN US ON OUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google Blog & Flickr
"Never doubt that a small group of
thoughtful, committed citizens can change the
world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever
has." Margaret Mead.
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Thank you for caring about the horses,
Elizabeth Forel - Coalition to Ban
Horse-Drawn Carriages - a standing committee
of The Coalition for New York City Animals,
Inc.
Please DONATE
to our campaign to ban
the inhumane and unsafe carriage horse industry.
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